CLP Beacon - Business Issues and Solutions

Monday, March 7, 2016

Can You Name The Campaign? Building the Brand in Politics and Business

This
blog is not will not make a political statement or endorse any candidate for
President. The blog looks at the race from a branding perspective to glean any
lessons.

As the election
grinds on the Republican field is down from 17 candidates to just a few. On the
Democratic side, it is a two-person race versus the anticipated coronation of
Hillary Clinton. No matter what your political leaning, 2016 will go down in
history as one of the most unusual and interesting elections.

Presidential elections are great exercises in
marketing. Campaign strategists must create crisp messages to meet the needs of
targeted constituencies. Early on, campaigns need to attract donors and
volunteers who will eventually motivate their followers to get out and vote. Each candidate has a brand, and in fact, is a
brand with a clear promise, themselves.

As
with any brand, a successful campaign needs to have a clear message, a clear
promise, and key points supporting the message. A slogan captures the spirit of
the promise in a snappy and succinct way. The slogans of the key candidates are
listed below in the column on the left. The column on the right lists the
candidates in alphabetical order. Can you match the slogans to the candidates?
(The answers are at the end of the blog.)

Campaign
Slogan

Presidential
Candidate

Reignite the Promise
of America

Dr. Ben Carson

Kasich for US

Hillary Clinton

A New American
Century

Ted Cruz

Hillary for America

John Kasich

A Future to Believe
In

Marco Rubio

Make America Great
Again

Bernie Sanders

Heal + Inspire +
Revive

Donald Trump

TaglineGuru surveyed 250 branding, marketing,
and advertising executives to rank the slogans based on the following criteria:

Memorability
– are they catchy and memorable?

Authenticity
– do they capture the individual style of the candidate and spirit of the
campaign?

Likability – do they tell a fun and inviting story?

Interestingly,
Bernie Sanders’ original slogan of “A Political Revolution is Coming” was
ranked the highest at the time. Sanders has since changed his slogan to “A
Future We Can Believe In.” Sanders must not have seen the survey results, or
felt that he is more believable and credible than the other candidates and
therefore changed the promise.

Excluding
the Sanders slogan, the TaglineGuru survey results ranked the slogans from best
to least best:

1.Reignite the Promise of America

2.A New American Century

3.Hillary for America

4.Heal + Inspire + Revive

5.Make America Great Again

6.Kasich for US

You
can decide if you agree with the experts.

Let’s
briefly look at the slogans to see how they support the candidate’s message.

Hillary
Clinton’s “Hillary for America” touts her deep experience for the job. “Kasich
for US” supports his message of bringing the country together to get Washington
working again. If you listen to the candidates talking points, you will hear
these messages repeatedly.

Reignite
the Promise of America, A New American Century, and Make America Great Again, all
have the same premise of ensuring American “exceptionalism” after eight years
of a Democratic administration. These candidates talk about how they believe
the Obama administration has taken the U.S. in the wrong direction and they
will oversee a course correction.

So
far, the voters of the two parties are attracted to almost polar opposite
brands. Democratic voters are overwhelmingly supporting Hillary Clinton and her
message that she has the experience to be a stable and competent executive.
Republican voters, on the other hand, are supportive of the Donald Trump
promise of Making America Great Again through the skills he has acquired as a
successful businessperson and having no ties to the “establishment.” Not
surprisingly, the Republican voters are more energized around electing a fresh
candidate versus the Democratic voters who are very familiar with Secretary
Clinton.

What
lessons are there for businesses in looking at these campaign slogans?

1. The message and promise are critical. Just as a
candidate must be clear about the platform he or she in running on, a business
must be clear about its purpose and what it delivers to their customer. While presidential
candidates must be able to answer the question, “why do you want to be
president,” every business must be able to answer the question, “what is your
mission and in so doing what do you promise to deliver?”

2. Presidential candidates repeat their messages. Moreover,
they have to say it each time like it is the first time they are saying it.
There are at least two reasons for this. (1) Every time a candidate speaks
there are likely people that are hearing the message for the first time so the
candidates must sound fresh. (2) People need to hear the same thing nearly a
dozen times before they actually remember it and potentially accept it.

This is true for businesses as well. Whether talking with
customers or employees business executives need to have a clear message that
they hammer home repeatedly.Do you
recall “Pin Drop”- the message and promise of a quiet communications advocated
by Sprint for many years? When done properly, the target audience will
understand what makes the company different and why they should buy its
products or services.

3. Candidates must have a track record supporting
their positions. People will want confirmation and validation of those
messages. This is also true for companies and their executives. If part of a
company’s message is great customer service, it had better have great customer
service continually.

In
summary, both politicians and companies need a clear reason for being, a clear
promise i.e. message to their target audience or constituency, communicate that
promise repeatedly, and have a track record supporting their assertions.

C-Level
Partners exists to help small to middle market companies improve their business
performance. Our managing directors are owners of the firm and have long
careers of helping companies envision and create the future.

Our brand promise
is to help you grow revenue and improve margins and we back it up with a “pay
for what you believe is fair” guarantee.
More importantly, our Managing Directors can back up this promise with a
history of accomplishments.

If you have
any thoughts you would like to share about this blog please leave a comment and
feel free to forward it to your friends and colleagues. Also, if you would like
to discuss any branding, strategy or business issues, please contact me at ddrent@clevelpartners.net or call
me at 714-290-3892.